Warlock builds
Leveling to 80 A comprehensive guide to leveling, including talent selection, can be found under Leveling a warlock. Affliction Builds The DoTs Bane of Agony and Corruption are some of the most mana-effective and time effective spells available for the Warlock. The Affliction talent tree can improve on these even more. There is always the issue of the mob dying or getting killed before the full completion of a DoT. This is especially bad for Bane of Agony, that causes more of its damage in the last third of its duration. There are also some issues with using DoTs in parties and raids. In particular, many Crowd Control abilities break if the affected creature takes any damage. A mob affected by a DoT spell essentially becomes immune to a significant number of CC measures. This is a build that focuses on a great AoE and not letting you die in raids, with the Soulburn: Seed of Corruption, you will have almost instant Corruption in all nearby enemys and this combined with Siphon Life gives you a good health recovery, after that you keep casting Seed of Corruption on the mob that is in focus on all the party and you get a great AoE. Basic rotation for single enemies will be Haunt, Shadow Bolt, Corruption, Bane of Agony or Bane of Doom, Unstable Affliction and Haunt again. After the first rotation you have to keep casting Soul Fire which doesn`t require soulshards anymore as the main damage dealer, casting Haunt whenever possible in order to reset Corruption and Shadow Bolt whenever the effect of Shadow and Flame goes off. Updated for 4.0.1. This build places more emphasis on your own DPS. You can actually pick Glyph of Bane of Agony instead of Glyph of Unstable Affliction if you like to cast Bane of Agony instead of Bane of Doom. Always use either Bane of Doom/Curse of Agony combined with Curse of the Elements. Bane of Doom now have the advantage to have a 20% chance of summoning a demon guardian. Glyph of Fear is now very usefull now when fear can be used as a cc, it's probably a good idea to stick with that, though Glyph of Soul Link can be changed to fit you better. The basic opening rotation: With no Unholy Death Knight, Boomkin, or warlock that's willing to cast Curse of the Elements: Bane of Doom (Bane of Agony), Curse of the Elements, Shadow Bolt, Haunt, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Shadow Bolt filler. Renew DoTs as needed. With an Unholy Death Knight, Boomkin, or another warlock willing to cast Curse of the Elements: (Curse of Weakness,) Shadow Bolt, Haunt, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Bane of Agony, (Bane of Doom,) Shadow Bolt filler. Renew DoTs as needed. Under 25% HP of the mob, Shadow Bolt is replaced by Drain Soul. The doomguards and infernals will benifit this build more than any other. Demonology Builds Updated for 4.0.1 This build now provides both burst and sustained damage. Updated due to the new pre-cataclysm patch. This build provides high burst damage, high crit chance, and high rate of attack to further boost minion crit chance, which boosts coverage of . Single target rotation is + , , , , unless is active (then ), until DoTs/debuffs need need refreshing or cooldowns are up, or the target is under 35% health. When target is sub-35% health, replace Shadow Bolt with . to refresh your immolate on the target, use when cd is out. Multi-target Metamorphosis + Demonic Empowerment, (all while walking to the mobs), , tab, etc. And hope your tank has good AoE taunts going. }} Destruction Builds This is the simulated best possible Warlock Destruction spec using the best in slot gearhttp://elitistjerks.com/f80/t48311-simulationcraft_warlocks_4_0_x_numbers_80_85_a/. This build is pure DPS. No raid support or survival talents. Minion of choice is the Imp due to Empowered Imp and is supported by Burning Embers and Dark Arts. You will have the imp on Defensive and will disable auto cast of Phase Shift so he will be buffed as well. Opening rotation with the expectation of Improved Shadowbolt being provided by someone else, as well as Curse of the Elements/Earth and Moon/Ebon Plague: Refresh according to the following priority: #Immolate #Conflagrate #Chaos Bolt #Bane of Havoc or Bane of Doom #Life Tap when out of mana. Bane of Havoc or Bane of Doom, (Curse of the Elements), Soul Fire Improved Soul Fire, Immolate > Chaos Bolt > Conflagrate > Corruption > Incinerate filler. The above will suffice for most Warlocks. You may want to Simulate your character to decide which is the better DPCT. When Empowered Imp procs, cast Soul Fire only if Incinerate is the next in your priority list. Talents: Demonic Embrace can be changed to Fel Synergy (as utility) or to Doom and Gloom (as a further improvement to the damage capabilities of this build) if you like it more; otherwise I suggest to stay with the glyph and talents, glyph of fear is excellent now when fear can be used as a cc on certain mobs. This destruction build gives a nice burst damage capability and some useful survivability skills. Notable talents: Shadowburn and Improved Searing Pain give a quick way to kill your opponents while they are under a certain percentage of HP. #Aftermath dazes the target every time Conflagrate is used. #Backlash gives an instant opportunity to strike the target with Incinerate if you are struck in melee combat. #Nether Ward and Nether Protection give more survivability against both melee and magic attacks. #Shadowfury may be used to stun multiple targets at once. Eventual variations: #Improved Corruption points may be moved to Doom and Gloom at your choice. This is undesirable once you reach a certain amount of haste as you will receive an extra tick on Corruption at regular intervals, and Bane of Doom does not receive any benefit from Haste. Bane of Doom also ticks once every 15 seconds making it easier to dispell. Curse of Agony also hits hardest at only its last few ticks, making Improved Corruption that much more attractive. Glyphs: #Glyph of Immolate and Glyph of Conflagrate are used to maximize your output damage. #Glyph of Shadowburn is a nice way to double-hit an opponent who's under 20% HP to bring him down more quickly. #Other suggested glyphs are for mere survivability. One may change Glyph of Soul Link with Glyph of Demonic Circle if it feels more suitable. This build provides short casting times, high instant cast Soul Fire proc rate and high survivability. Recommended 'rotation' (not a real rotation, since PvP is very flexible): Shadowfury > Fear > Immolate > Chaos Bolt > Conflagrate > Soul Burn + Soul Fire (for Improved Soul Fire debuff) > 3x Incinerate *Soul Fire when Empowered Imp procs. *Incinerate when Backlash procs. *Chaos Bolt and Conflagrate every cooldown. *Fel Flame when on the run. *Shadowburn when available and preferably back to back. Notable talents: #Aftermath dazes (slows) the target every time Conflagrate is used. #Backlash gives a quick instant cast Incinerate when struck in melee combat #Shadowburn two instant cast spells (glyphed) to finish an opponent off. #Empowered Imp gives a 4% chance at an instant cast Soul Fire. #Dark Arts gives quicker Firebolts which means more Empowered Imp procs. #Soul Leech Chaos Bolt, Shadowburn and Soul Fire are all three major spells, thus used often. 4% Health and mana every time these spells are casted increases survibality and durability. #Nether Ward gives a powerful shield against any type of spell. (Watch out for spellsteal) #Nether Protection gives a significant damage reduction for the same spell school. This comes in handy against classes that rely heavily on a single spell school (nearly all classes) and increases survivability. #Demonic Embrace increases stamina and thus survivability. Glyphs: #Glyph of Conflagrate #Glyph of Shadowburn for two Shadowburn to finish someone off. #Glyph of Chaos Bolt or Glyph of Immolate, Chaos Bolt is shorter lasting fights and Immolate against multiple opponents or in longer lasting fights. #Glyph of Shadowflame for getting at a distance from melee opponents. Notes Older Builds * Warlock Builds Vanilla * Warlock Builds TBC * Warlock Builds WotLK External links Category:Guides Category:Talents Category:Warlocks